Resilient wheel



2 SHEETS'SFEET 1 LVVENTOR.

c. G. ,HiNSDALE. REsl Ll ENT WHEEL. FILED E0. 6.

J.- as, 1923.

WITNESSES.-

ATTORNEY.

Patented len. 23, 1923.

aliases GEORGE G. HINSDALE, OF SOTMERVILLE,

I;IA.S$ACE-IUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNIE ASSIGNMENTS, TOAUTOGRAFT CORPORATION, 01 BOSTON, MASSA- CHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSACHUSETTS.

RESILIENT VJHEEL.

Application filed December 26, 1914. Serial No. 879,071.

To all whom itimag concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen G. HrNsnALn, of Somerville, in'the county ofli liddhsex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful improvements in Resilient Wheels, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to improvements in resilient wheels,intended gener- 10 ally for use on 1110'tOIPi'OPBll(Tl vehicles, andconsists essentially ofa combination of parts whereby T can exactlybalance or sustain the load carried thereby up to any required loadwithout any deflection or settlement of the hub below the center of thestructure while the wheel is at rest or rolling over a per fectly smoothsurface; but which combination of parts at the same time enables me tomake the structure so sensitive to impact that the wheel readily absorbsthe vibrations and Shocks generated in rolling over a rough surface, andwhereby the same resiliency can be obtained whether applied to thelightest runabout or to the heaviest motondriven lire aparatus or truck.

Heretofore resilient wheels have been constructed consisting of an innerrim and an outer rim of larger diameter leaving an annular chamberbetween such rims, said rims being connected by series of yieldingdevices, one end of each device being connected to the inner rim and theopposite end to the outer rim. My invention consists essentiallyinforming each yielding device of the series of yielding devices as aunit, and in such a manner that the yielding medium of each unit islocked and held under the necessary initial stress to produce thedesired result independent of its connections to the rims t0 and priorto its insertion in the wheel. This I accomplish by engaging theyielding medium at both ends by each of the devices by which it isconnected to the inner and to the outer rim. The initial stress on theyielding medium in each unit is determined by the number of units ineach wheel and the nor.

mal load to be carried thereby. thus balancing the load on the wheel andallowing no deflection. 0r eccentric displacement of the rims in thenormal condition of the wheel or when moving on a perfectly smoothsurface.

It is evident that any yielding medium may be so designed that. it willsupport a given load when stressed to a certain definite length, whichin my case is the distance fixed between the locks on the deviceswhereby the units are connected to the rims and which engage theyielding mediums at both ends; also, yielding mediums may be designedthat in order to carry a given load at a given height they would have tobe stressed different amounts in order to obtain the desired initialload capacity, and thereby I am able to produce yielding units ofgreater or lesser degrees of resiliency.

Thus the resiliency of my wheel, or its capacity for absorbing thevibrations generated in rolling over a rough surface, is entirelyindependent of the normal wheel load. From which it follows that two ormore vehicles otherwise identical in weight and other details can beadapted to entirely clifferent operating conditions, or two or morevehicles entirely different in weight and other details can be given thesame fr edom from vibration under the same operating conditions by mymethod of utilizing these independent. properties of the yielding medium used in my invention.

The invention carried out substantially as described hereinafter andshown on the accompanying drawings which form an essential part of thisspecification, and on which like characters of reference refer to likeparts wherever they occur on the different parts of the drawings.

On the drawings:

' Fig. 1 represents a sectional side elevation of a portion of aresilient wheel showing the Various parts thereof under normalload.

Fig. 1 is a similar view of the opposite side of the wheel showing thesame under abnormal load.

Fig. 2 illustrates another method of arranging and constructing theyielding units.

Fig. 2 shows the opposite side of the wheel of Fig. 2 under abnormalload.

Fig. 3 represents a plan view of one of the assembled units shown inFig. 1, and when said unit is under normal load conditions.

Fig. 4 represents a side elevation of the same unit under normal loadconditions.

Fig. 5 represents similar view of the same unit at full compressionunder shock load.

Fig. 6 presents a similar view of the same unit at full extension undershock load.

Fig. 7 represents a plan View of one of the assembled units-shown inFig. 2, and when said unit is under normal'load conditions. 7

Fig. 8 represents a side elevation of the same unit under normal loadconditions.

Fig. 9 represents a similar view of the same unit at full compressionunder shock load.

Fig. 10 represents asimilar view or the same unit at full extensionunder shock load.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, A indicates the surface upon which the wheelis moving. The inner rim a is rigidly attached to or forms apart of thewheel proper X, and to this rim are pivotally attached the inner ends ofthe series of units 5 in Fig. l and 0 in Fig. 2 by means of the bolts orpins d; The'outer rim 6 of larger diameter than the inner rim a is'alsoprovided with a series of pivotal attachments as by means of the boltsorpins f and by means of whichtheouter ends of the units Z) and c areconnected to the said outer rim. The eccentric dis placement of the rimsa and 6 under shock loads will cause all of the yielding units to berelatively displaced as shown, and while some are shortened as shown at9 Fig. 1 and it Fig. 2 others are lengthened as shown at i and jrespectively in the same views. I have shown two arrangements of theyielding units, but it is understood that otherarrangements andcombinations are possible without departing "from the essential featuresof my invention. Also, while any suit able yielding medium may be used Iprefer to use the common helical spring.

Helical springs are made in two general types; close-coiled springs inwhich the stress under load should always act to open the coils, andopen coiled springsin which the stress should always act to close thecoils. l have shown two constructions of the yield ing-unit, one inwhich a spring of the close-. coil type is used as the yielding mediumand one in-.which a spring of the open-coil type is used. Theconstruction of the first is clearly shown by Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6,and the latter by Figs. 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

In the unit construction shown in detail in Figs. 7, 8', 9 and 10 theopen-coil'spring 7c is held under initial stress between two bearingplates Z and Z mounted between the seats m and m and the lugs 71. and nof two parallel actuating members or arms 0 and 0 respectively, the saidactuating arms being so placed in relation to each other that the lugs aand n on the free ends of each of the parallel arms and the seats on andm of the other arms engage the outside of the respective plates Z and Zholding the unit assembled in its normal load position as shown by Figs.7 and 8 and under the desired initial stress. The plates Z and Z" areprovided with the respective=ears p and p to hold the arms 0 and-o inalignment with each other. When the unit is shortened the seats m andm"on each of the parallel actuating arms move inwardly against the bearingplates Z and Zf and inportcd at one end by the crossbar? and atthe'opposite end by thecross bar s and these bars are held spacedapartby the arms t and 25 which are placed in pairs on either side ofthe spring. The arms havetherespective notches u and u at one end andthe respective slotted perforations o and 7) near the other end toreceive the bars 1' and s. The arms t and If in each pair are so placedthat the notch u or a of one arm coincides with the inner end of theslotted perforation a or a) of the Other arm when the unit is in itsnormal position. The ears to and w on the arms 25 and 25 act to hold thearms in alignment with each other longitudinally, while the lugs 00 andy on the cross bars 1* and s holdthe pairs of. arms suitably spacedapart laterally When assembled and in the position shown by Figs. 3 andlathe distance between the cross-bars 1' and s is such that the spring 9is heldlocked' under the required initial stress to sustain the normalload to be supportedby said spring without relative displacement 'ofthetwo rims or the wheel, WVhen the unit is-shortened as shown in Fig. 5the parallel arms in each pair slide longitudinally towards each otherand their notched ends act outwardly against the cross bars 1' and scausing them to move apart and thereby cause the placing of furtherstress on the spring When the unit is lengthened as shown in Fig. 6 theparallel arms aremoved apart longitudinally and the inner ends of theslots 4; and '21 act outwardly against the cross-bars causing them to-move apart and thereby cause an increased stress on the spring. Thisshortening and lengthening of the units is caused by any relativedisplacement of the inner and outer rims of the wheel, whichdisplacement is due to an i crease ofthe load'inexcess of the normhlload supported by the wheel or a sudden shock on the outer rim due to anobstacle B on the surface upon which the wheel is movlng.

It will be observed that the application of load to the open-coil springalways acts to close the coils, and when applied to the closecoilspringit acts to open the coils, independent of whether the load causes theunit to be decreased or increased in length. While I have shown anddescribed specific unit con structions, it is evident that any othersuitable unit construction may be used without departing from thepurpose of this invention so long as the yielding medium, or helicalspring, is held assembled in the unit under initial stress.

It will be understood by the above description that by the introductionof the yielding units with their contained yielding mediums under anydesired initial stress within the wheel, I am able to support anydesired normal load without any displacement of the relative positionsof the inner and the outer rims of the wheel to which such units areattached and between which they form the yielding connections. It willalso be understood that the relative positions of the two rims of thewheel will remain the same when the wheel is supporting any load lessthan the normal load for which the yielding mediums in the units arestressed, and even when the load is entirely removed from the wheel orwhen the wheel is removed fromthe vehicle on which it is to be used.

Having thus fully described the nature, construction, and operation ofmy invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is:

1. A resilient wheel comprising a hub section, a rim section surroundingthe hub section, and a series of unopposed spring units between said hubsection and said rim section, held under a predetermined initial stressand pivoted at their ends to fixed points on said hub and rim sectionsrespec tively, the relative movement of the pivotal points of eachspring unit either toward or away from each other increasing the stressof the spring, whereby any eccentric displacement of said sectionsrelatively one to the other will increase the stress of all 01 thespring units irrespective of their position.

2. A resilient wheel for vehicles comprisinga hub section to which theload is applied, a rim section surrounding the hub section and normallyconcentric therewith, and a series of unopposed spring units connectingsaid hub section, and said rim section, the relative movement of thepoints of connection of each spring unit either toward or away from eachother increasing the stress of the spring, said spring units being eachheld independently under a normal initial stress such that the combinednormal stress of all the spring units is at least equal to the normalload applied to the hub section, any eccentric displacement of saidsections relatively one to the other under an excess load being adaptedto exert increased stress on all of said spring units.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE G. HINSDALE. Witnesses A. CECIL EDWARDS, M. GLADYs MUSGRAVE.

